Santa Clara, Calif., Apr 13, 2011 -- Percona today announced at the O'Reilly MySQL Conference & Expo that Percona Server has been downloaded more than 250,000 times. This milestone establishes Percona Server as a front-runner in popularity among MySQL derivatives. Percona Server is an enhanced version of the open-source MySQL database server. It is drop-in compatible with standard MySQL, with improved performance, operational flexibility, and measurability. Prominent users include 37signals and Flickr.

Percona Server is a favorite of power MySQL users who have reached the limits of the official MySQL server from Oracle. Improvement requires measurement, so Percona Server exposes the server's internal operations and performance. This helps users avoid guesswork and optimize applications systematically. The result is better performance in a broad variety of use cases, from cloud computing to flash storage. Percona has used the same instrumentation to optimize the server itself. Benchmarks against standard MySQL 5.5 show more than 40% performance gains, as well as more stable and consistent performance, free of the server stalls and slowdowns that can affect MySQL. Percona Server is 100% free and open-source.

Percona also develops Percona XtraBackup, an open-source hot backup utility for InnoDB, MySQL's default transactional storage engine. XtraBackup is praised by social networking giant Facebook, and has been downloaded more than 200,000 times. It is the only alternative to Oracle's proprietary MySQL Enterprise Backup. XtraBackup offers competitive features and functionality, and supports MySQL, Percona Server, MariaDB, and Drizzle. XtraBackup integrates with tools such as Zmanda Recovery Manager for MySQL. Percona XtraBackup is 100% free and open-source.

Product Roadmap

The popularity of Percona Server and XtraBackup has prompted requests for a roadmap for future development. Percona will continue using the GPL-licensed MySQL source code from Oracle as a baseline for Percona Server. A release based on MySQL 5.5 is imminent. The server will feature self-tuning algorithms, making performance stable even in fluctuating conditions. Percona Server will reduce locking to support complex queries at higher concurrency. Percona will also make ALTER TABLE much faster, and improve operational flexibility so the server can provide higher uptime. Percona's roadmap for XtraBackup is to build an integrated, end-to-end solution that can back up and restore the entire server with minimal impact. The next XtraBackup release will add advanced features to support more diverse use cases. Percona plans to expand platform coverage for both Percona Server and XtraBackup to include Windows and Solaris.

ABOUT PERCONA, INC:

With over 1000 customers since 2006 and a global team of more than 40 experts, Percona is the largest and oldest independent MySQL support provider. Percona provides enterprise-grade MySQL support, consulting, training, and NRE (non-recurring engineering) services. Their customer list includes Cisco Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, Groupon, the BBC, and StumbleUpon. Percona's founders authored the definitive book High Performance MySQL from O'Reilly Press, and the widely read MySQL Performance Blog.